Abstract

Barringtonia racemosa and Barringtonia spicata are moderate sized trees that can be found in Southeast Asia. They are medicinal plants that have been used in traditional practice to treat itching, high
blood pressure, and as a depurative, by using their leaves. Due to the healing properties of the leaves, it is important to determine the antioxidant properties and total phenolic content from the different
developmental stages of the leaves. It was assumed that the young leaves have a higher activity than
mature ones. The total phenolic content (TPC) of the plant extract was determined alongside the free
radical scavenging ability using a 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, and also the capacity of
the extracts to inhibit lipid peroxidation by using a ferric thiocyanate (FTC) and thiobarbituric (TBA)
assay. The highest TPC was observed in the methanolic extracts of the stage 1 leaves of B. racemosa (0.34
mg GAE/g DW) and B. spicata (0.19 mg GAE/g DW). The highest scavenging activity was shown in the
methanolic extract from the stage 3 leaf of B. racemosa, with IC50 at 33.33 µg/ml. In B. spicata, it was
shown in stage 4, at 42.33 µg/ml, as compared to the chloroform extraction. All extracts actively inhibited
lipid peroxidation with an amount of more than 88 % inhibition. The healing properties of Barringtonia
could come from their high antioxidant activities. More detailed study will be required to identify which of
the active compounds are present in the leaves that act as antioxidant compounds.